Balance of power

Stephen Pritchard

CNBC Business

5 September 2012

PA’s Marc Tritschler, an energy expert, is quoted in CNBC Business magazine. Marc gives his view on self-sufficiency, as an eco-conscious Dutch island aims to change the way its people use electricity.

Commenting on the Cloud Power grid, Marc sounds a note of caution. "This technology is still at a very early stage of development and energy companies have to get the mix right between security of supply and customer demand. You can't give customers no choice; you might have to allow them to use power, but at a higher tariff."

He continues: "There have been projects, for example in the UK, that are built around demand response arrangements. UK Power Networks' Low Carbon London is running customer-behaviour trials and offering different tariffs to shift demand around. Power companies are also working with industrial and commercial customers on demand response."

Marc also points out that public-sector power users such as hospitals and local government could be potential users, but only if green power is closer in price to conventional electricity. Currently in the UK, renewable electricity costs about a third more than that generated by gas.

You can read the article in full here.

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